Who will be victorious in the 59th annual Daytona 500?

Joey Logano delivered the first win of the Monster Energy Cup Series season to the Ford Performance camp in the Clash last Sunday. Later that day, it was the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. claiming the front row in Daytona 500 qualifying. Fast forward to the Can-Am Duels on Thursday and it was Elliott who persevered in the first qualifying — proving that the Chevy package possessed more than just single-car speed. Defending Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin was victorious in the second Duel without help from the Toyota contingent. 

Still, three Cup races provided three different winning manufacturers. Is there a clear cut favorite for Sunday’s 59th running of the Daytona 500? 

The fan favorite

If there’s a fan favorite, it would be Earnhardt. He appeared to be in command of the second Duel until Hamlin passed him with two laps remaining in the qualifier. After leading 53 of 60 laps, Earnhardt was a sitting duck in the closing stages. He described his position as “undefendable” — and does not believe he could reverse the situation even in the 500. 

Earnhardt preferred the feel of the No. 88 Chevy during Friday’s practice. The good news is conditions on Sunday will be closer to that as temperatures are expected to fall overnight.

“I thought our car was a little better (Friday) in practice,” Earnhardt said. “In the pack, it would develop runs a little bit better, it just seemed like I had to get a little luckier today with what was happening behind me, where yesterday the car would do some things or develop some things kind of on its own.  

“The thing about that is every time you get out there you might not even change anything it just depends on what kind of pack you get in, what kind of cars are around you and your car’s performance can change and kind of fool you a little bit.  I’m just hoping that today was a little more laid back, not quite as many cars out there, not quite as active in the draft and maybe that is why we didn’t see our car respond like it did yesterday.”

The No. 88 crew changed the driveshaft after Earnhardt developed a bit of a vibration. He was concerned that any change in the balance could affect the straight-line speed. 

“You want to get all that out of there so you don’t have any doubts about anything holding your car back.  Otherwise it’s been really uneventful, we haven’t had any issues or problems with the car mechanically and nothing happened on the race track, so it looks like we are going to get this thing on the grid tomorrow and ready to go.”

What about the youth movement? 

It would be foolish to ignore the usual Daytona suspects. Team Penske is by far the most successful operation of late. Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have combined for six wins in the last nine restrictor-plate races. Like his Hendrick teammate, Jimmie Johnson also has two Daytona 500 wins. Matt Kenseth also has two Harley J. Earl trophies in his case. And while it's been more than two decades since Sterling Marlin won consecutive Daytona 500s, don't count out defending winner Denny Hamlin. 

But there's a new crop of hopefuls in the Cup garage. Chase Elliott is still looking for his first win on NASCAR's elite tour. When Elliott didn’t break through during his rookie season, it was surprising. He had the equipment. He had the team. He had the opportunity — but just fell short. 

Despite a somewhat crazy, herky-jerky approach to defending the point in the first Dual, Elliott held on for the win. Following Happy Hour, Elliott declared his car felt “really good.”

“Everybody in the Hendrick Engine department did a good job on our motor last weekend,” Elliott said. “To be able to run as well as it did in qualifying and in the race as well as it did those are tough things to marry together.  We have our race motor in now and we will try to survive tomorrow.” 

Another sophomore that stood out in the Duels was 23-year-old Ryan Blaney. He led three laps in the second Duel before David Ragan tagged Jimmie Johnson, who bounced into the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. The last time the Wood Brothers won was with 20-year-old Trevor Bayne in the 2011 Daytona 500. Blaney, a Team Penske protege, would like to take the iconic No. 21 Ford back to Victory Lane.

“It’s been a lot of fun to race for them the last two-and-a-half years,” Blaney said of the Wood Brothers. “They’re a great group. Every time we come here, especially for the 500, it’s a really important race to try and win for them because of their history here. To get them back to victory lane after a handful of years would be awesome. We’re just going to try and do our best.”

The Cup driver with the best average finish at Daytona (11.7) is Austin Dillon, 26. In seven starts, Dillon has scored five top-five finishes. His best result was fifth in the 2014 July race. Richard Childress Racing has not won a race since Kevin Harvick left the company in 2013. But if the No. 3 returned to Victory Lane at Daytona, the crowd would go nuts.

“I think it would be awesome and a lot of people would be happy,” Dillon said. “I know a lot of people at RCR would be.”